Fossil Trace Golf Club

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 4

Sam Sherstad

An update: Our annual Colorado Golf Binge group of 8 guys played Fossil Trace again last Thursday and it was super fun. The course is great. The service is super. Its still a 5-star. This was my prior review.....I just played Fossil Trace again on the afternoon of March 20, 2014 after skiing the morning at Arapahoe Basin. What a wonderful day! My nephew and I had a great lunch at the courses Three Tomatoes restaurant. Then played 18 very fun holes that are in surprisingly good condition for March in Colorado. Fairways and greens are already green and lush. And conditions will be better this summer. Give it a try. Just west of Denver in the foothills of Golden you’ll find an incredibly unique golf course. Fossil Trace Golf Club lies right behind that big golden domed government building in Golden north of I-70. Their slogan is “Escape the Ordinary, Experience the Extraordinary” and they claim their course was 64 Million Years in the Making! They’re right on their first claim. The experience is Extraordinary…especially for a Texas Flatlander. I’ll just have to trust them on their 64 million year claim. But this is also probably true because the walls of the cliffs on the back nine contain fossils of prehistoric creatures and plants that have been studied for years by students of the Colorado School of Mines. In fact two walls by the famous 12th hole are set with lights for students and tour groups doing evening studies of the fossils. Before you head to Fossil Trace check out their great website and their helicopter fly over. Its a terrific way to get a feel for what youll experience. I’ve been able to play this course seven times and have improved progressively as I’ve learned how to play Colorado golf course designer, Jim Engh’s bowl greens and sloping fairways. Some golf purists criticize Engh’s designs as being too golfer friendly but I find them to be great fun. In fact on my last round I got a hole-in-one on the uphill par 3 third hole by using the backstop. I was hosting a group of my TX and IL buddies and we had fun celebrating the special day at Fossil Traces Three Tomatoes bar/restaurant overlooking the course. Head Golf Pro, Jim Hajek, will warn you not to bite off more of the course than you can handle. But in 2009 we didn’t listen. We played from the tips (Black tees) for 18 holes. The 6,831 yards at a high altitude with a 72.5/139 rating/slope didn’t seem too tough to handle but the narrow 480 yard par 4 4th and the 659 uphill into the wind 9th hole proved too much for us. So we squeezed in another nine holes after a great lunch at Fossil Trace’s Three Tomatoes Restaurant on the deck over looking the beautiful 10th and 18th holes. This time we played the Blue tees at 6,241 yards with a 69.3/131 rating/slope and found it much better for our game and egos. Another option would be to play the "T-Rex" tees (a combination of the Black and Blue tees measuring 6,577 yds and 71.2/135 rating/slope). Before you go check out Fossil Traces great website including very well done videos of holes 1, 10, 12 and 15. These will give you a good taste of what youll experience on a golden day in Golden. Have your cameras rolling when you play the unique 12th and 15th holes. Both are par 5s. The 12th makes you feel like you’re the ball in a pinball or bumper pool game as you pick your route through tall rock formations in the fairway. Golden is a fun town to visit après-golf. You’ll see some of the Coors Brewery near the Fossil Trace Golf Club - a tempting tour after 18 holes on a 64 million year old golf course!

A Private User

I read all the reviews for this course and was really excited to book a tee time. Upon arrival and paying a pretty steep green fee, I got 2 buckets of balls for my family for the driving range: irons have to hit off of a mat. Thats all fine and good, but two days before I paid the same price for driving range balls and got to hit off of grass. Not what I expected from a top rated golf facility. After warming up with some practice balls, I moved to the practice green. I was majorly disappointed: the green had been invaded by poa and was a horribly inconsistent putting surface. The bentgrass was really grainy, so you definitely had to play for it when putting. Again, I expected more from a top course. I played a course in Kansas that was 1/3 the price and had better greens. They have a neat system to call you to the tee, the same system restaurants use to let you know your table is ready: a buzzy, flashy device. The course layout was interesting, it seems that most every hole you play goes downhill which makes for interesting club selection. I found some of the greens to be absolutely ridiculously tiered, sometimes 4-6 feet elevation changes between tiers complete with signs that you must use a putter when on these greens. The tees were in good shape, as well as the fairways: but dont get off the fairway! They grow their rough thick! Though these were few in number, I found it an awful design. Our 4-some had a problem hole where there were two balls in the rough, we got behind pace for that hole: the GPS system told us we were 7 minutes behind pace and we were working to catch up. The ranger was on us before we could hit our second shot, which rushed us all the more. He did come back and thank us for catching up later, though. The back 9 is definitely the more scenic of 9s, sadly we could only get through 14 holes before a storm rolled in and lightning chased us off the course. Which brings me to their rain check policy: If we had not teed off on #14, we could have gotten a raincheck for 9 holes, but since we did (didnt even finish the hole) we got nothing. So, for $75 a head, we got sub-standard greens, rushed by the ranger, and mother nature cheated us from enjoying the last 4 holes. Ive only ranked this course 2 stars because the greens were in such poor shape for the price. Its a beautiful course to play, but being dead set on pace of play made it rushed for my group and made the round much less enjoyable. It may be worth the price playing this course once, but I wont go back again.

Kyle Holderness

Beautiful course, incompetent course marshall. Course Marshal Bob needs a refresher on how to treat guests. 1st, we visited from outta state and were not warned about rattle snakes until we removed a semi-dead one from the cart path IN FRONT OF BOB and disposed it in the public trash. Then, Course Marshal Bob met us on the back 9, made a snotty comment about something he accused our party of doing, which was untrue. Then, Before I could explain what he saw he drove off as I was speaking, which is very rude and unprofessional. In Bobs defense, the course was overbooked and that could have put him on the edge. I can only assume Course Marshal Bob is the brother or drunk uncle of the course owner(s). However, it was a beautiful and challenging course and the rest of the staff was very helpful and accommodating.

Brendan Neaton

Beautiful course, unique layout. Had a wonderful experience with the staff, not sure about the reviews that say the staff is rude. Please dont listen to Kevin Shop, his review reflects a low level understanding of the game, and course design. Yes, the greens can be tricky, as they have many undulations. Look at this as a fun challenge. Spend a moment to analyze the read, and give it a go! My only critique would be that the ball was bouncing around a bit on the greens yesterday (5/4/2017). Seems like they can use a little work in terms of condition. Ill be back a few more times this season and will adjust my review if the condition improves. The rest of the course was in pristine shape. Overall, wonderful experience.